Tackle research in Canada
Former Ireland international, Kathryn Dane is doing some brilliant tackle research. She shares some updates and learnings, this time from Canada.
Since the last article (listed above), I’ve moved to Calgary to join the Sport Injury Prevention Research Centre (SIPRC) at the University of Calgary.
It’s one of only 11 IOC-designated centres worldwide. SIPRC has a huge track record in shaping injury prevention policy and practice, particularly in youth sport.
While I’ve maintained collaborations with my UK, South African and Trinity College Dublin colleagues, the opportunity to work with Prof. Carolyn Emery and her team was too good to pass up. (I have to admit living at the foot of the Canadian Rockies hasn’t been a bad perk either.)
My postdoctoral work partners with Rugby Canada and School Sport Canada to co-create and evaluate a tackle preparation strategy for youth girls’ rugby. We’re combining injury surveillance, practice footage, instrumented mouthguard data, and perspectives from players, parents, clinicians, and coaches.
The aim is a programme that balances safety and performance, and that rugby communities can realistically deliver.
Challenges
The short pre-season (thanks to the harsher climates) leaves very little time to introduce new training approaches or dedicate meaningful practice to tackle safety.
More broadly, sustaining coach engagement when resources are limited is a recurring issue. Coaches are usually volunteers balancing work, family, and community commitments alongside their involvement in the sport.
These competing demands influence how they engage with injury prevention and tackle safety programmes. Limited time and energy often create pressure to prioritise core rugby skills, meaning safety-focused activities are squeezed into small windows or simplified to fit.
Practical barriers add another layer. Harsh Alberta winters force coaches to adapt training to frozen or snow-covered grounds, sometimes moving sessions indoors or modifying drills entirely. Mandated session requirements can become unrealistic when weather conditions make contact practice unfeasible.
Even when structured initiatives like Contact Confident and Tackle Ready are available, many coaches find them overwhelming or difficult to implement in volunteer-driven, resource-limited environments. As a result, they tend to selectively adopt or modify programme elements.
Challenges also extend to players and coaching culture. Securing buy-in from players is inconsistent, particularly among younger athletes with little contact sport experience, and confidence in the tackle develops slowly through repeated exposure.
At the same time, some coaches recognise resistance to change within their own community and highlight gaps in coach development systems.
Together, these realities position the coaching environment as both a barrier and an opportunity: there is strong recognition of the value of tackle safety, but practical delivery requires programmes to be accessible, flexible, and clearly aligned with coaches’ realities.
The short preseason really highlights the need for flexibility and scalability in tackle preparation. If coaches only have a handful of sessions, programmes must deliver impact quickly and be easy to integrate.
That reality isn’t unique to Canada—many contexts worldwide face constraints such as limited access to facilities, part-time coaching structures, or condensed competition calendars.
It reinforces the importance of designing tackle safety interventions that can work in resource-limited environments.
Overcoming the challenges
Accessibility and practicality have to be front and centre to any solution. Coaches are far more likely to engage with tackle safety programmes when resources are simple, time-efficient, and clearly linked to on-field performance.
Short, adaptable modules that can slot into a regular practice—rather than compete with it—are key.
Co-creation is also critical. When coaches are involved in developing interventions, the content reflects their realities and feels relevant rather than imposed. This makes buy-in stronger, particularly in volunteer-driven environments where time and energy are limited.
Support structures matter too. Instead of isolated workshops, coaches benefit from ongoing mentorship, peer networks, and opportunities to share what’s working in their contexts.
Building communities of practice across clubs, schools, and provinces helps reduce the sense of isolation that many coaches described.
Providing support
Embedding safety doesn’t have to mean adding extra drills; it can mean adjusting existing ones so that safe technique becomes part of the everyday rhythm of training.
Reinforcing this through coach education, role modelling, and accessible resources helps shift the mindset from “optional extra” to “core coaching practice.”
Support has to be ongoing and connected. Workshops are valuable, but what makes a difference is building communities of practice—spaces where coaches can share challenges, learn from each other, and get feedback. (Much like your current work Jess with substack etc.)
Peer-to-peer networks, online platforms, and mentorship from experienced coach educators all help reduce isolation.
At a system level, aligning provincial and national organisations to provide consistent guidance and accessible resources ensures coaches don’t feel like they’re navigating this on their own.
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